Adjustable reel for headers.



YNo. 8401,411.

l PATENTED JAN. l, 1907. B... H. ACKERMAN.

ADJUSTABLE REEL FOR READERS.

APPLICATION FILB) AUG. 1,1906.

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PATENTBD JAN. 1, 1907',

R. H. AGKERMAN. ADJUSTABLE REEL FOR HEADERS.

APPLIG T-ION FLEDAUG. 1,1906.

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DJUSTBLEREBL FOR READERS.

A PPLIOATION FILED AUG.1,1908.

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INVENTOH ,4 TTUHNEYS THE NoRRls PETERS co.. wAsHlNaroN. n4 c.

a citizen of the United States, residing at reference to the drawings, in whichi arms a comb of teeth along the front edge to strip ing rigidly attached to its forward edge the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REINT H. ACKERMAN, OF ENDIGOTT, WASHINGTON.

ADJUSTABLE REEL FOR HEADERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 1, 1907.

Application led August l, 1906. Serial Non 328,740.

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, REINT H. AOKERMAN,

Endicott, in. the county of Whitman and State of Washington, have invented a new and use-ful Improvement in Adjustable Reels for Headers, of which the following is a specication. i

My invention relates to the reels for that class o'f harvesters known as headers which are pushed ahead of the team and have off the heads of grain and leave the stalks standing in the field.

These headers have above the row of teeth a reel for bringing the heads of grain up to the stripping-teeth, and this reel is required to be made adjustable up and down inrelation to the teeth to accommodate grain of ditferent height as well as to cut in hollows and on uneven ground, It is important thatthis adjustment of the reel be made quickly and with one hand without stopping the team, and my invention provides a simple and convenient mechanism for doing this,y which I will now proceed to describe with Figure l shows a side elevation of a headerl with my reel-adjusting mechanism applied to it and showing the teeth elevated and the reel also elevated from the teeth. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the teeth and the reel both lowered. Fig. 3 is a plan view, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view, of the rock-shaft and its connections for adjusting the reelcarrying In the drawings, A represents a main frame mounted upon wheels W W and havcomb of stripping-teeth B, having behind it the usual trough C, in which runs the carrierbelt. (Not shown.) At the rear of the main frame A is hinged at c the tongue Tj, supported at its rear end upon the swiveling-A wheel w, which turns about a vertical axis and has a steering-arm s. A platform p is arranged on the rear end of the tongue for theheader-man to stand on, and near thisA point a rigid standard t rises from the tongue and has a series-of notches or locking adjustments to receive a rearwardly-extending tilting-bar J. This bar is rigidly connectedJ to the main frame A and is used to tilt the same on the wheels W to raise or lower the teeth B of the header, the rear end of the bar being in the hand along with handle with for this purpose fixed in along the' standard t.

As so far described the parts are all of the usual construction.

On the tilting-bar J is fixed a loo p-shaped guide or keeper c, through which slides a compound reel-adjusting bar consisting of a metal tube L and a metal rod Z, sliding therein. This reel-adjusting bar L is jointed at its forward end to the top of a lever H, fulcrumed at its lower end to the frame A and swinging about the notched arc-bar I on said frame. The slide-rod Z in hollow bar L is connected at its forward end to an elbowlever m, which in turn is connected to a spring-bolt K, locking into the notches of the arc-bar I. The rear end ofthe hollow bar L is turned at right angles to form a handle L', (see Fig. 3,) and the slide-rod Zin the hollow bar has a similar right-angular bend Z sufiiciently close to the handle Ll to be grasped L, and when so grasped the slide-rod Zis drawn to the rear an initialmovement that unlocks the bolt K and frees the lever II, so that it may be pushed forward or drawn backward by the hand gras ping the handle L The lever H is connected between its ends to a long link-bar G, which at its forward end is jointed (see Fig. 4) to a crank-arm g, rigidly attached to a rock-shaft F. This rockshaft has at its opposite ends rigid crankarms ff, whose wrist-pinsff play in slots in the rear ends. of two reel-carrying arms E E, fulcrumed at e in an upright frame on each side and carrying at their forward ends journal-bearings for ythe reel D. As the rockshaft F is rocked the arms E E are tilted on their center e and the reel is raised or lowered to throw it closer to or farther from the teeth B. vIn Fig. l the reel is shown adjusted up some distance above the teeth and in Fig. 2 it is shown close down to the teeth.

In Fig. l the tilting-frame is also shown tilted about the axis of the carrying-wheels so as to throw the comb-teeth up for tall grain, and in Fig.` 2 the comb-teeth are shown ina lower position for short grain.

' It is important that this tilting of the various adjustments frame A carrying the comb-teeth should be effected by the same movement orat the same time and by the same hand that regulates the approach of the reel to the teeth. To accomplish this, the reel-adjusting bar L is extended through the keeperjk of the tilt- IOO ing-bar J, so that while bar L may move longitudinally in relation to bar J both move together in the lateral or vertical movement of bar J for tilting the frame A, so that with one hand grasping'the two handles L l of the. reel-adjusting bar the reel-adjusting mechanism is unlocked, the lever H moved forward or backward, and the tilting-bar J raised or lowered by one and the same hand without stopping the machine, and thus saving vmuch valuable time in the harvest-field and enabling the header-man to instantly change the adjustment of both the teeth and reel to meet the varying conditions of different heights of grain or variations in the surface of the ground which may be found in the same iiel'd. i

I do not claim, broadly, the rock-shaft and cranks for adjusting the reel-carrying arms,

' as I am aware that this is old.

1. In a header, the combination of the reel, the reel-adjusting mechanism, the combteeth and the comb-teeth-adjusting devices, the reel-adjusting mechanism being connected to the teeth-adjusting mechanism for simultaneous movement.

2. In a header, the combination of the reel-adjusting mechanism and the combteeth-adjusting devices, the reel-adjusting mechanism having a bar movable both longitudinally andup and down and the teethadjusting mechanism having a bar movable up and down and the reel-adjusting bar havf ing a sliding connection with the teeth-adjusting bar and coupled with it for a simultaneous up-and-down movement together.

3. In a header, the combination of a tilting main frame having teeth along its forward edge, a rigid tilting-bar projecting rearwardly therefrom, a tongue hinged to the rear of the tilting frame and having a steeringwheel and an upright standard engaged by the tilting-bar, a reel-adjusting bar having a loose sliding connection with the tilting-bar, a lever connecting with the same, a locking device for the lever, a coupling-bar connected to the lever and a transverse rock-shaft having an intermediate crank connected to said coupling-bar and provided also with end cranks, a reel and carrying-arms connected to and operated by the end cranks of the rock-shaft. l

4. A reel-adjusting' device for a header, comprising a longitudinally-moving hollow bar having a handle at its end, a sliding rod arranged within the same and having also a handle arranged within range of the grasp of the other handle, a lever connected to the hollow bar, a notched arc-bar, a spring-bolt, an elbow connected to the spring-boltand to .the sliding rod, the reel-carrying arms, the

reel, and means for connecting the lever to and operating the reel-carrying arms.

REINTH. ACKERMAN. Witnesses:

JOHN PATTIsoN, H. J. ACKERMAN. 

